Joshua Schaefer

Joshua Schaefer

I explore the disquiet I find within myself, the cacophony of thoughts that penetrate daily life. From there, I begin to traverse the inner landscape of self and the relationships I have cultivated. Self-portraiture allows me to do the prior through examining different facets of my personality and the personas I put forth. In examining relationships, I depart from the figure: objects act as stand-ins for those around me, giving meaning beyond utility. Each painting invokes a whisper or joke to only a handful, an intrapersonal practice moving into the interpersonal.

Through painterly application, I render form recognizable while maintaining an air of gesture and open mark making. My artistic lineage comes from the great Baroque masters, looking specifically to Velazquez and Rembrandt. Branches then shoot up through 19th century French painting and contemporaries such as Michaël Borremans and Lucian Freud.

Currently, I teach at Cecil College, and formerly at La Salle University. I hold my MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and have most recently exhibited at Cecil College in a solo show, while still exhibiting locally in Philadelphia.